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The “All American” spinoff, “All American: Homecoming,” touched on a sensitive yet real-life issue that HBCU students have been dealing with the past year. There were at least 57 reported bomb threats to HBCU campuses.
An episode of fictional HBCU, Bringston University, was forced to shut down due to receiving a threat to their campus, a petrifying reality for many students, parents, faculty and staff members. The bomb threats sent a wave of fear, shock, anxiety and other mental health issues due to the unknown facts of where the threats came from.
Bringston set the stage to use the situation to talk about mental health and coping mechanisms to help students get through the frightening time. They canceled all classes and activities for the day to focus on everyone’s mental health in the wake of the bomb threat.
They called it “Free Black Joy Day.”
Mental health resources, trauma specialists and other activities were available on campus for all to unwind, vent and enjoy not having to worry about tragedy, classes or what’s coming down the pike. It was a day to let everything go and not keep it bottled up.
After threats were placed at HBCUs throughout the country, Tougaloo College and Fayetteville State University received funding from the government under the “U.S. Department of Education initiative called Project SERV, or “School Emergency Response to Violence.” The college used the funds to help provide mental health services and trauma specialists to students who needed it after their campus was threatened.
Grambling State University partnered with the Boris L. Henson Foundation and their department of Psychology & Sociology to host mental health days for their students. The day consists of resources for students and stress relieving activities such as yoga, dancing a meditation.
While it has been reported that the FBI has identified a suspect responsible for making the threats, they are still actively investigating the threats.